It comes down to this. Our time together is up. Of all the possible things to say, what should the last thing, the last word, be? It turns out that some habits are hard to break. In this case, it is the habit of […]

Long ago human eyes watched clear nights unfold on a beautifully velvet dark canvas, so filled with stars and planets that it is beyond our imagining. Those same eyes observed a landscape which provided everything necessary for acquiring food, shelter, clothing, tools and medicine. Those […]

If all Jesus came to say was “be nice to each other” then, really, his whole trip to the cross was pretty unnecessary, don’t you think? And yet, somehow, this is where the story of an unfortunate man who was robbed, assaulted and left for ...

If there is a byword for this week’s lessons, perhaps it is “on the way”.  Call it a slogan or a meme if you prefer. It’s not just a bible thing though.

In the wee hours of a February morning in Loveland, Colorado a pickup truck slid off the road. The police arrived on the scene, found the driver uninjured and determined that a slick, dark, tarry substance had caused the wreck. Immediately they ...

The season of Pentecost, which we have now officially entered, is long. This year it will last for twenty-three weeks. Take that in for a moment. It will be late November before this season gives way to the next one. This is a prolonged and ...

In AD 325, exactly 1,700 years ago, Christian leaders from Eastern and Western provinces were called together for a confab by the Roman Emperor Constantine. The empire was on its way to adopting Christianity as its official religion. But there was a problem.

Is it possible that there was ever a time or place on the face of the earth when someone in authority did not have to say, this is for your own good? Surely this phrase or some variation of it exists in every language.

Airports are buzzing, Ferries are full. The inns have no more room. It’s the time of year when you are most likely to hear the plaintive question, “are we there yet?” Today is the seventh and final Sunday of Easter. According to tradition, ...

Divine inspiration or desperation? Inquiring minds want to know. Paul had a vision during the night. Was it the Holy Spirit or indigestion? After all, Paul had just come from a difficult personal management situation with Barnabas, another leading evangelist. They’d disagreed ...

In Cracow, a rabbi dreamt three times that an angel told him to go to Livovna. ‘In front of the palace there, near a bridge,’ the angel said, ‘you will learn where a treasure is hidden.’ The rabbi went to Livovna. When he arrived at […]

Sermon given by Pastor Dawn Coffey, preached on Lopez Island In honor of Mother’s Day, let us go to the second reading we heard this morning, from the book of Acts, the story of Tabitha. Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, also known as Gazelle, must have been a woman ...

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It was the last thing that Jesus said in last week’s gospel text. It’s interesting then that people place so much stock in seeing Jesus. The desire is so ...

People walk the Camino de Santiago (the Way St. James) for various reasons. Pilgrims follow the ancient path from France to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Their goal is the tomb of St. James the Greater, killed in Roman Palestine by the order of ...

Many words have been used in reference to the event that followed the death of a Galilean religious teacher more than two millennia ago. Amazing, perplexing, mysterious; these are some of the more positive expressions. On the other side there’s laughable, dubious, impossible, and ...

It was a chaotic day. Afterwards his friends tried to say what had happened. But it was like piecing together the fragments of a shattered precious stone with only the thin and opaque glue of grief and regret. Jesus was ...

The human reckoning of calendar time has been something of a moving target. Some are lunar, some solar. Mayan, Egyptian and Chinese calendars for example. In the west, the Julian calendar was succeeded by the Gregorian, resulting in minor dislocations of events from past to ...

The road from Galilee down to Jerusalem isn’t long, about twenty-eight miles or so. On one particular day, John’s gospel tells us, a group had traveled that road and detoured to Bethany which is less than two miles east of Jerusalem. They were there for ...

This fourth Sunday in Lent comes as a sort of a deep sigh. The scriptures in each of the preceding three weeks have tended toward accountability to God’s covenant and judgment for our failure to measure up. Today’s lessons however, resonate with consolation.

Temptation is a hard nut to crack. But temptation is where Jesus began his journey toward the cross. With temptation all around, he had to get on the other side of the cross before he could enjoy that wondrous gift we call resurrection. So ...

If you want to travel to the great city in the south, there are several ways to get there. One is on the main highway which is straight and moderately well maintained. The other is on back roads which, though quieter, pose […]

It would be a mistake to think that events are linear in the scriptures. Instead, ancient themes are laid out, transported to new landscapes and peoples, remodeled, revised, and renewed. This is a repeating pattern, as holy and purposeful as the fractals of pinecones ...

There’s nothing quite so exasperating as a puzzle with a missing piece. At least that’s the way puzzle enthusiasts feel. Most others generally regard avid puzzlers as slightly deranged and are not at all sympathetic to the missing piece problem. But ...

Joseph was a hero. At least near the end of the book of Genesis he was. But that’s a long way from where he started. As a seventeen-year-old, he was insufferable. He had dreams of grandeur that he could not ...

Swing low, sweet chariot. Remember that song? It’s a camp song. It’s a favorite of choral groups. It began as an African American gospel spiritual that may not have been part of every church’s culture, but certainly is a part of American culture and ...

The setting was beautiful. The last night stars fading and dawn on the horizon. Purples fading to pinky reds. The cries of birds and the smell of the lake. Fish netters pulling their boats onto the hard. People stood near the quay and ...

There are no descriptions of Jesus. Have you ever wondered about that? For a person of such renown you would think that someone, somewhere, would have remarked about his appearance. But no. There were plenty of pictures being made around in the time of ...

After more than a generation in exile, the Israelites returned. In Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside of Judah they began to rebuild. Nehemiah records an early memory of their return. The people had finally accomplished enough to begin thinking of more than ...

Three words today. In our three lessons. These words are: Unloved, Uninformed, Unready. She had been so lovely when she was young. Who would she marry? One potential suitor stood out. Wealthy, the highest of the high, the most honorable of the honored. Who ...

Today is all about baptism, beginning with the baptism of Jesus Christ. The gospels all describe John the Baptist with a sense of urgency. What John has to say about repentance and amendment of life is never out of season. Listen to this warning:

Back in 2020 an unusual event occurred at Christmas time. The planets Jupiter and Saturn aligned. Their combined brightness was likened to the star that appeared over Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus. People were captivated by the beauty of the event. In the year […]